So as you can tell by the loads and loads of photos today was another chock-full day. Of course this is only a slice of the 197 photos that I actually took!

First trip was to Bear USA which is a wildlife refuge that you drive through. Named Bear USA for it's large amount of residential bears (there must have been atleast 50 in one enclosure). They walked right up to our car at one point and we freaked out a little because we though they would rub on it or sit on it.... but they were licking the front because of all of the dead bugs on it!

The most amazing part of the entire site was the White Buffalo which we later found out to be a pretty sacred animal with the Indians who believed it to be the Spirit of one of their ancestors. A white Buffalo is very rare and for whatever eason it was here in this refuge.... with no background story. There was a collection of baby animals and a ton of cute little furry and fuzzies.

Next we went to Mount Rushmore which is huge and amazing. One woman told us today that when she first saw it she cried because it was so overwhelming. I did not get that feeling but it sure was an awesome thing to look at. We walked along a trail in search of Borglum's studio where he worked out of only to see a small sign that said it was closed for the season- would have been great to know that before we started hiking over to it! We saw some long-horned sheep (those white ones) which must be residents of the area because they were tagged.

Then we went to Crazy-Horse Memorial which was really quite impressive. It's not done being built but it will be amazing when it's done. The museum by the memorial is a tribute to all Native American's and has a huge amount of Native American artifacts. Crazy-horse was an Indian who fought almost his entire life to keep his territory in the Black Hills against General Custer, who killed off most of the Indians and stole their territory from them and put them up on smaller territories, mixing with other tribes, in Reservations.

Next we went to drive through Custer State Park and that's where we saw some really amazing wildlife and scenery. I won't go into it much because I took some pictures and videos.

We headed to Deadwood after that which is this really cool old Western Town in a valley. It still has remnants of some of the old buildings, but it's so bizarre because as you drive by them all you see are neon signs and slot machines. The entire town thrives on Casino's and apparently that's how it was mainly back then in the late 1800's. It's does kill the mood though. When we drove in there was this scary vibe that mom and I both got. It's like a ghost-town because it's still the beginning of Spring here (they had 22 feet of snow this winter), so there's not a lot of people. The people that are here are all senior citizens who come here by the bus-load. We took a trolly into town and there was a man on the trolly who we spoke with briefly. He was obviously OLD and he was saying how great Deadwood is and that we should think about moving here and how he comes here with his wife atleast every two weeks! He also said this was "God's Country" and I thought two things:

1. And the East Coast is NOT "God's Country"?

2. Yes, Casino's and a bunch of sluts dressed up tending bar is absolutely without a doubt the definition of "God's Country"

So mom and I went off in search of food at the Buffalo Steakhouse because it was the only restaurant on in the promotional book. Obviously we could have anything chicken fried or country fried.... but it was definitely a toss up between Buffalo Oysters (look it up) and steak tips (breaded or 'naked'). Not the best meal ever..... maybe we would have been better off with the buffet.

Then we gave ourselves a budget of $20 and went to the slots..... lost all of our money in about 30 minutes. So walked back to the Trolley Stop and waited...

and waited.... and waited.....

Finally we decided to walk back to the hotel and found ourselves increasing our pace and the hairs on the back of our necks sticking up when a loud car came driving by. But we made and are now save and sound. It is 1:22am and I am up doing this blog as my mom lays in the bed next to me............. snoring...... Goodnight!!!!

Reindeer

Arctic Wolf

Bighorn Sheep

Cute Black Bear

White Tatanka (Buffalo)

Baby Grizzly Bear (incidentally he's HUGE)

Full-sized grizzly takin' a bath!

Black Bear cub

Baby Fox

River Otter... possibly the cutest animal I've ever seen and YES I want one! Dad, if you're reading this.... get on that will ya?

Mount Rushmore and the Hotties

Squishing Washington

Crazy-Horse before TNT

Crazy-Horse. The white is the outline of the horses head where it will be when the monument is done

Read This!

What the monument will look like when it's done (and the actual monument in the distance- clever aren't I?)

Mommy and baby Tatanka

Antelope


Anyone singing "Home, Home on the Range" yet?

Herd of Tatanka (yes, my new favorite word)

Momma's additions: it's early AM and Eliza is snorting in the next bed, the blush is off this mother-daughter rose, the tell-all begins. This was Nature day with a capital N and in that respect it is "God's Country" but Eden ends where man's footprint gets heavy: velvet softly rolling prairies, dense pine forests, soaring rock formations give way to farm land and ramshackled barns, then ramshackled houses with RV's parked beside them, then the tourist joints "Come Mine For Gold", "Reptile Land",  followed by strips of fast food joints with "all you can eat buffets" (what is with "food" out here? everything is battered, fried then smothered in condiments, chicken, beef, Rocky Mountain Oysters, why bother distinguishing when it all tastes the same, not good), then Deadwood and you just know this is purgatory: wide streets lined with saloons/casinos where retirees come to lose their last dime, sitting like drones in front of slot machines... Eliza vows to put me out of my misery if I follow that route. Lots of laughs again throughout and another remarkable day.